I bought one of these usb wifi adapters off ebay - luckily as a spare...
Was very cheap and came the next day from a local UK supplier
but I was then concerned to find that 148f:7601 was not well supported on Linux.....

This is a Linux driver for MediaTek MT7601U USB dongle. It was written from scratch based on the vendor GPL-driver. Unlike the vendor driver this driver uses modern Linux WiFi infrastructure and should work flawlessly with NetworkManager, wicd, wpa_supplicant and such. This driver was merged into mainline and is part of official Linux kernel since version v4.2. If you are using Linux 4.2 or later there is no need to install this driver.

Building and using

To use this driver you need to upgrade your kernel to at least Linux 3.19. You also have to grab a copy of the firmware from the vendor driver. Download the vendor driver (see section below) and copy file MT7601U.bin to /lib/firmware:

Whenever a driver is not available for a kernel, we get suggestions to try another puppy version. I just got LxPUPSc17.06 connected. but it had a major problem with the File Manager, which could not access the other parftitions. There were lines of text outside the WM about a dereferenced null pointer and a bad Eip - possibly an unsupported CPU..
Would it not be possible for someone to write a kernel changer for such wifi drivers, so that users of earlier stable kernels such as Lucid, Precise, etc could also enjoy wireless comms with these adapters?_________________LxXenial16.08, LxPupSc17.07.01,Lucid 5.2.8 and others - all frugal

Would it not be possible for someone to write a kernel changer for such wifi drivers, so that users of earlier stable kernels such as Lucid, Precise, etc could also enjoy wireless comms with these adapters?

Mick's change_kernels tool works in Puppies that have their kernel modules (like the wifi drivers) in a separate zdrv.sfs file. This started with Puppies like Tahr605 or Slacko630.

Some users of 5-series Puppies like Precise had their own kernel-switching procedure, but it would not apply to situations that need a modern k4.x kernel.

Your difficulties here came from your desire to run LxPup and problems with using change_kernels in that environment.

It now sounds like you want to revert to an earlier Puppy. If so, I would suggest the following.

1. Get Tahr605 or Slacko630.
2. Use change_kernels and switch to the huge-4.1.11-slacko_PAE.
3. Install the mt7601u_huge_slacko_PAE-k4.1.11.pet that I built at your request.

@rcrsn51 I'm not actually using puppies for real. This test rig is an old one that runs WinXP. Lubuntu16.08, LxPupXenial16.08 and a number of older puppies incl Shiba, Carolina, Precisemate, Lucid 5.2.8 and others - but it is only a test rig, and my interest is purely academic. I would add that it has a wired eth0 card which is used by those older puppies.
LxPupXenial16.08 runs fine and connects wirelessly.(with your help). I junked LxPupSc 17.01 for reasons not connected with the wireless adapter (which worked well too).. I may come back to it to see if I can sort it out.
I'm sorry if I did not express myself as well as I could, so I hope this will clarify the position._________________LxXenial16.08, LxPupSc17.07.01,Lucid 5.2.8 and others - all frugal

@rcrsn51 As I've said on numerous occasions, I am most grateful for your help and expertise.. Even though, I am not, at present, using any puppy for real, it may well be that I will do so in the near future, as I have done in the past.. I spent the best part of a week before I came to ask for advice, and I do regret that your help in getting LxPuPSc17.07.01 connected, turned out to be wasted, in my case, for unconnected (no pun intended ) reasons. Your forum posts, however, are still there and will help myself and others.
UPDATE Did a pristine install of LxPupSc17.07.01 (with the kernel change) and it all now works as it should._________________LxXenial16.08, LxPupSc17.07.01,Lucid 5.2.8 and others - all frugal

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